News Release
News Release Date: August 25, 2020
Contact: newsmedia@nps.gov
WASHINGTON—The National Park Service will join the Women's Suffrage Centennial Commission (WSCC) and sites across the U.S. to illuminate the country in purple and gold on August 26 in celebration of 100 years of women's constitutional right to vote. From Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, California, to the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, Lady Liberty’s original torch in New York City, and Presidents Park (The White House) in Washington D.C., national parks across the country will be illuminated in the historic suffrage colors of purple and gold on the 100th anniversary of the date when the 19th Amendment became an official part of the U.S. Constitution.
The Arch and the Old Courthouse at Gateway Arch National Park will be illuminated against the night sky, thanks to the support of the Gateway Foundation of St. Louis. The Statue of Liberty’s original torch, visible from its new glass-enclosed perch in the Statue of Liberty Museum, will be illuminated with the support of Rambusch Lighting Design. National parks associated with the women’s suffrage movement will light up, including the historic Wesleyan Chapel at Women’s Rights National Historical Park in New York where suffragists met in 1848 as well as Belmont-Paul Women's Equality National Monument in Washington, DC. More than 50 other national parks across the U.S. will participate by illuminating park structures, images on social media, or both.
“The National Park Service is proud to join the Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commemoration in this celebration by illuminating iconic American sites across the country, especially places where the fight for women’s suffrage took place," said Margaret Everson, Counselor to the Secretary, exercising the delegated authority of the NPS Director. “Visitors can explore this history in the places where it happened, from national parks to nationally significant sites such as the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville where the suffragists waged the final state campaign for ratification which Secretary Bernhardt recently designated as a national historic landmark.”
The WSCC has engaged institutions nationwide in illuminating their structures to honor the suffragists who lobbied, marched, picketed, and protested for the right to the ballot, never giving up on the fight for equality. Buildings and landmarks that will light up in purple and gold at nightfall on August 26 include One World Trade Center, Niagara Falls, the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign, Smithsonian museums, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Library of Congress Jefferson Building, the National Archives Building, and presidential libraries.
Forward Into Light is a culmination of a year-and-a-half-long commemoration of the centennial of the 19th Amendment's passage and ratification, beginning in May and June 2019 on the anniversaries of the 19th Amendment passing through the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, before going to the states for ratification. Learn more about Forward Into Light and sign up to participate at www.womensvote100.org/forwardintolight. On August 26, 2020, share photos of your illuminated buildings on social media platforms using the hashtag #ForwardIntoLight, and submit photos to be included in the WSCC's official Forward Into Light online album.
About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America's 419 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov, and on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.
Last updated: August 25, 2020